1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable end connector assembly, and particularly to a cable end connector assembly having enhanced grounding effect.
2. Description of Related Art
With the developing trend of miniature of a personal computer, the integration command of a mother board is higher and higher and a plurality of electrical components is needed to be integrated thereon. Because of the limited space of a chassis of the computer, the size of the mother board is limited correspondingly, therefore, the number of the electrical components is restricted. However, with the development of consuming products, besides outer peripheral devices (such as a keyboard, a mouse et al.), the computer also needs to connect with other consuming products, such as a printer, a digital camera, a scanner, and a personal digital assistant. (PDA). This needs a lot of input/output ports settled on a panel of the chassis to satisfy the current requirement.
Under such condition, a cable end connector assembly mounted in the chassis of the computer is developed. The cable end connector assembly interconnects the input/output ports settled on the panel and corresponding electrical connectors mounted on the mother board; thus, economizing the mother board to a great extent. Such prior art cable end connector assembly is disclosed in Taiwan patent No. 330735 issued on Apr. 21, 1998 and Taiwan patent No. 349660 issued on Jan. 1, 1999. Now referring to FIG. 1, such a cable end connector assembly 90 comprises an insulative cover 91 and a plurality of electrical connectors 92 respectively received in receiving cavities defined in the cover 91. The insulative cover 91 is fastened to a grounding plate 94 by means of a pair of screws 93 and a metal shield 95 of each electrical connector 92 abuts against the grounding plate 94. The grounding plate 94 is assembled to a chassis of a computer; thus, an electrical grounding trace is established from the cable end connector assembly 90 to the computer via the grounding plate 94 and the noise generated by EMI or cross-talk is decreased.
However, the grounding effect is not reliable. Since the electrical connectors 92 abut against the grounding plate 94 by the engagement between the insulative cover 91 and the grounding plate 94, and since the material of the insulative cover 91 is relatively flexible, the electrical connectors 92 have great possibility of separating from the grounding plate 94 after frequently pull/insert from/into a complementary connector. Because of the unstable engagement between the electrical connectors 92 and the grounding plate 94, noises generated in the cable end connector assembly 90 cannot be transmitted away and a signal transmission of the cable end connector assembly 90 is influenced inevitably.
A way of fastening the electrical connectors 92 directly to the grounding plate 94 through increasing a front size of each connector can solve the above problem. However, this increases manufacturing cost, and the assembly and disassembly between the cable end connector assembly 90 and the grounding plate 94 is inconvenient. Hence, a cable end connector assembly with an improved grounding means for achieving enhanced grounding effect is required to overcome the disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cable end connector assembly, which has a multi-way grounding trace for achieving an improved grounding performance and enhanced EMI protection.
In order to achieve the objects set forth, a cable end connector assembly comprises a plurality of electrical connectors, a cable, an insulative cover, and a conductor. Each electrical connector comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts mounted in the insulative housing, and a metal shield assembled to the insulative housing. The cable comprises a plurality of wires electrically connecting with the contacts and a grounding medium electrically connecting with corresponding metal shield. The insulative cover encloses the electrical connectors and one end of the cable. The conductor electrically and mechanically connects with the metal shields of the electrical connectors.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.